PCA board test planning (ICT vs. Functional or ATE)

[tfr]

Can anyone direct me to information on electronic board (PCA) test planning and methodology? Specifically, I am trying to decide whether or not to use ICT, ATE or functional testing for various complexity boards that are all part of the same system, and that are all currently in developement.

 

[electricuwe]

For the decision for the best approach you should consider the following topics:

Does your system contain a microcontroller?
In this case using a special test programm on the microcontroller is a very effective approach.

Do you intend to test 10 units or several millions ?
In the first case its important to minimize initial cost, in the other its most important to test as fast as possible.

Do you intend to repair defective boards or would you just throw away defective boards ?
Its much more difficult to locate a defect so that it is possible to repair compared to just detecting it.

Do you only have to test or to also have to perform adjustments during test ?
The second thing is much more complex.

In every case you should make testability a design issue, but of course the aproach is different depending on the technology choosen.

 

[cbarn24050]

Hi, including test facilities on board generaly increases costs but not by very much so it is usufull unless the product sensitive to price.